Collectors information & Description: 

"The Family That Plays Together", the second of four albums released by the original Spirit lineup, was marketed by Ode Records in 1968. Unlike its predecessor, Spirit, their self-titled and surreal debut, "The Family That Plays Together" evinces more greatly the band's ability for playing beyond the genre of psychedelic rock than within it. Tracks "It Shall Be" and "Silky Sam" demonstrate the ease with which the ensemble can incorporate jazz into their idiosyncratic form of rock, while "Jewish" and "Aren't You Glad" evidenced the band's competence in exploiting, to their advantage, both world music and jam rock respectively. "Poor Richard," "Jewish," and "All the Same" feature glorious double track lead breaks from guitarist California. The inspiration behind entitling The Family was derived from the stepson-stepfather relationship guitarist Randy California and percussionist Ed Cassidy shared.